Chinese scientists have begun a three-year development of fuel cell technology, which will provide the most effective and safe alternative to traditional energy for the automotive industry.

According to a meeting held by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) recently in Dalian, a coastal city of Northeast China's Liaoning Province, the State expects to invest more than 100 million yuan (US$12 million) in developing the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) technology, a sub-project of the State's high-tech advancement programme.

Researchers from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics under CAS, China's top research body, are scheduled to focus on research and development of fuel cell systems with a generating power of 75 kilowatts and 150 kilowatts respectively.

Through closely co-operating with other CAS institutes, prestigious universities, such as Tsinghua and Zhejiang, as well as Dongfeng Automobile Company and Shanghai Automobile Group, the Dalian institute plans to complete the research project in three years.

Transforming chemical power of hydrogen and oxygen into electric power, fuel cells have high generating effectiveness and produce almost no pollutants that threaten the environment.

High power fuel cells could be widely used in space shuttles, submarines, underwater robots, electric vehicles, power plants, movable power supplies and communications appliances, said Zhang Huamin, chief executive officer of the high technology project. (02/19/2002 Xinhua)